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Francisco D’Souza

Chief Executive Officer

Francisco D’Souza is the Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant and a member of our Board of Directors. Cognizant is a leading professional services company and our mission is to help clients around the world transform their business, operating and technology models in tandem to achieve the promise of digital technology at scale.

In his role as CEO, Francisco sets the strategic direction, promotes Cognizant’s values and client-first culture and focuses on ensuring the company’s sustainable growth and driving long-term stockholder value. He co-founded Cognizant in 1994 and has served as the company’s CEO since 2007, leading revenue growth from $2.1 billion that year to $14.8 billion in 2017. Cognizant is ranked 205 on the Fortune 500 and consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. In 2017, Fortune named Cognizant to its Fortune Future 50 list, a new ranking of companies best positioned for breakout growth. And in 2018, Cognizant was named to the first-ever Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies list, a ranking of the environmental, social and governance practices of large U.S. publicly traded companies.

Francisco serves on GE’s Board of Directors, where he is a member of the Technology & Industrial Risk Committee. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon University and as Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science, a center for interactive science that serves half a million students and teachers each year. He is a member of the World Economic Forum and a member of the Science Visiting Council for the science program NOVA. Fortune magazine named Francisco a “Fortune Businessperson of the Year” for 2017, highlighting his mission to prioritize services that help clients adapt and keep pace with the digital revolution.

Born in Kenya and the son of an Indian diplomat, Francisco is a global citizen who has lived in nine countries and traveled extensively to many more. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Macau and an MBA degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Rajeev Mehta (Raj)

President

Rajeev Mehta is the President of Cognizant. Raj is responsible for the overall profit and loss of Cognizant’s operations, leading the global industry and geographic business units, as well as consulting, digital services and systems and technology solutions. His responsibilities also include the offices of the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief People Officer, focusing on talent, utilization, performance and ongoing operational excellence. Additionally, he manages the company’s emerging business accelerator unit and other special initiatives dedicated to building new solutions for our clients. As a long-term veteran of Cognizant, Raj remains passionate about delivering on our promise of helping clients build stronger businesses in the new digital era and maintaining our longstanding culture of deep customer centricity.

Raj joined Cognizant in 1997 and has consistently contributed to our industry-leading growth. Prior to his current role Raj served as Chief Executive, IT Services, leading industry, geographic and delivery operations on a global basis to provide excellence through process and quality initiatives. He also served as COO of Cognizant’s Global Client Services and Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cognizant’s Banking & Financial Services, two of our largest businesses, with full profit and loss responsibility. Earlier in his tenure Raj was responsible for establishing the U.S. Central Region, securing early relationships with some of Cognizant’s largest clients.

Raj holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and an MBA degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Carnegie Mellon University.

Prior to her current position Karen was Senior Vice President, Enterprise Transformation and Financial Planning & Analysis, leading teams that she architected during her time at Cognizant. In that role, she was responsible for our worldwide financial planning and analysis, enterprise risk management and enterprise transformation functions. This included facilitating and executing various internal transformational initiatives designed to enable our strategic vision.

During her tenure Karen has developed a deep understanding of Cognizant from both a financial and a business operations perspective. Outside of Cognizant she serves on the Board of Directors of Best Buy Co. Inc.

Prior to joining Cognizant in 2003 Karen spent six years at Spherion Corp. and three years at Ryder System Inc., where she held key financial management positions. Before joining Ryder, she spent six years in the South Florida Practice of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Karen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wellesley College and an MBA degree from Columbia University.

Malcolm Frank

Executive Vice President, Strategy & Marketing

Malcolm Frank is Cognizant’s Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, he is responsible for defining and overseeing all aspects of the company’s corporate strategy and go-to-market positioning. His deep understanding of the digital economy—at scale across silos, organizations and marketplaces—and ability to see around technology’s tight corners are key factors in Cognizant’s consistent industry-leading growth and ability to address clients’ ever-changing business needs.

Malcolm’s influence is wide ranging and evident across media. He has co-authored two best-selling books, “What to Do When Machines Do Everything” (2017) and “Code Halos” (2014), both of which received multiple international book awards. He has also authored numerous white papers focusing on the Future of Work and created the term “SMAC Stack,” now an industry standard. A highly sought-after speaker, Malcolm has presented at various conclaves, including the World Economic Forum and the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals. He is frequently quoted, is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study and was named “one of the most influential people in finance” by Risk Management magazine.

Beyond his practical vision on artificial intelligence (AI) and experience as a founder and CEO of three business ventures, Malcolm works closely with Cognizant clients to gain business advantage from large-scale digital transformation programs. He also serves on the Board of Directors of FactSet Research Systems Inc. Malcolm holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Yale University.

Ramakrishnan Chandrasekaran (Chandra)

Executive Vice Chairman, Cognizant India

Ramakrishnan Chandrasekaran is Executive Vice Chairman, Cognizant India. Chandra focuses on relationships with industry bodies such as the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and on driving strategic initiatives that fortify Cognizant’s outreach to the government and others in India. He also works to strengthen our business relationships and technology, deliver thought leadership and lead teams to achieve greater levels of client intimacy.

Since joining Cognizant in 1994 Chandra has played a variety of roles in developing our value proposition and executing our public relations strategy. He previously served as Group Chief Executive, Technology & Operations, leading our solutions and global delivery teams worldwide. Chandra was responsible for growing Cognizant’s capacity, expanding our global delivery network, achieving greater excellence in delivery management through process and quality initiatives, and proactively nurturing key alliances and business partnerships. He also served as President and Managing Director of Global Delivery, where he was instrumental in implementing a vertical structure in Cognizant’s core business and introducing specialized service offerings.

Chandra holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Trichy (formerly the Regional Engineering College) in India and an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He is a 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the National Institute of Technology Trichy and 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIM Bangalore.

Srinivasan Veeraraghavachary

Chief Operating Officer

Srinivasan Veeraraghavachary is Cognizant’s Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for managing the company’s operations, including our talent supply chain, utilization and ongoing operational excellence. In addition, Srinivasan leads Cognizant’s IT systems and infrastructure team, including business continuity. Since joining Cognizant in 1998 he has played a key role in driving strong and sustainable growth, leveraging our deep relationships with clients by combining them with sound business practices.

Prior to his current role Srinivasan served as Executive Vice President of Cognizant’s Product and Resources business unit, which includes the retail, consumer goods, manufacturing, energy & utilities and hospitality practices for North America and the United Kingdom. He has also played key leadership roles in our Banking & Financial Services and U.S. Central Region business units, where he won and managed several strategic client relationships that have helped Cognizant become an industry leader.

Srinivasan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Trichy (formerly the Regional Engineering College) in India and an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management.

Debashis Chatterjee

Executive Vice President and President, Global Delivery

Debashis Chatterjee is the President, Global Delivery and Cognizant Digital Systems & Technology. He is responsible for all Industry delivery organizations globally. He also oversees all the service lines in Digital Systems and Technology Practice.

Since joining Cognizant in 1996 Debashis has held several key management positions. For the three years before assuming his current role in 2016 he served as Executive Vice President and President, Technology Solutions. In this role Debashis was responsible for implementing best practices in service delivery and creating solutions across our horizontal practices.

Earlier in his career at Cognizant Debashis held such senior positions as Global Head, Technology and Information Services and Senior Vice President, Transformational Services. Several of these positions were instrumental in growing Cognizant's Banking & Financial Services (BFS) practice, which Debashis led as Senior Vice President and Global Delivery Head until 2007. BFS today is among our largest and fastest growing vertical markets.

Debashis holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering, from Jadavpur University in India.

Executive Vice President and President, Global Industries and Consulting

BIOGRAPHY

Ramakrishna Prasad Chintamaneni (Prasad)

Executive Vice President and President, Global Industries and Consulting

Ramakrishna Prasad Chintamaneni was appointed Cognizant’s President, Global Industries and Consulting, in 2016. Prasad previously served for three years as Executive Vice President and President of Cognizant’s Banking & Financial Services (BFS) practice. In his current role, Prasad leads Cognizant’s vertical commercial organization, which includes all industry verticals and the global consulting business.

Prasad joined Cognizant in 1999 and established key relationships with many of Cognizant’s largest banking and financial services clients. Since 2011 until December 2013, Prasad served as Global Head of Banking and Financial Services practice, responsible for the global P&L, sales, business development, consulting, client relationship management and delivery. During Prasad’s tenure as the Global Practice Leader, Cognizant’s Banking and Financial Services business has become one of the largest practices in the industry, earning Cognizant #4 on 2017 IDC Financial Insights FinTech Ranking.

Prior to joining Cognizant in 1999, Prasad spent seven years in the investment banking and financial services industry, including working at Merrill Lynch and its affiliates as an Investment Banker and member of Merrill’s Business Strategy Committee in India.

Prasad holds a Bachelor’s in Technology degree in Chemical Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from the Xavier School of Management (XLRI) in India.

Matthew Friedrich (Matt)

Matt Friedrich is Cognizant’s General Counsel. He is responsible for our legal and corporate affairs functions, having joined the company in 2017. Matt comes to Cognizant from Chevron, where he served as Chief Corporate Counsel from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that he was a law firm partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Matt began his legal career as a federal prosecutor, working in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for more than 13 years. Matt’s tenure in government culminated in his designation in 2008 as the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, a 740-employee litigating component of DOJ in Washington, D.C. Matt also served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the U.S. Attorney General, as an Assistant U. S. Attorney, and as a member of the Enron Task Force. Matt is a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service and the Director’s Award for Superior Performance.

A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and the University of Virginia, Matt clerked for United States District Judge Royal Furgeson in the Western District of Texas. Matt is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors of the U.S. India Business Council.

Sumithra Gomatam

Executive Vice President and President, Digital Operations

Sumithra Gomatam is President, Cognizant Digital Operations. Appointed in 2016, she leads the Cognizant Digital Operations line of service—including our Business Process Services (BPS) organization—and is responsible for implementing best practices in services delivery and creating solutions across our industry markets. For the three years prior to this position Sumithra was responsible for overseeing global delivery for all industry verticals, as well as BPS.

From 2008 to 2013, Sumithra served in several senior roles while building Cognizant’s quality engineering and assurance (QE&A) business unit, including Global Practice Leader for our testing practice. Under her stewardship Cognizant has become one of the world’s largest providers of independent verification and validation services. Sumithra previously served as an Account Relationship Manager and as part of our Core Delivery Leadership Team in our Banking & Financial Services (BFS) practice.

From 1995, when Sumithra first joined Cognizant, until 2001 she held various key positions both within our company and at The Dun & Bradstreet Corp., including serving our BFS clients on application development and application maintenance projects.

Sumithra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from Anna University.

Gajen Kandiah

Executive Vice President and President, Digital Business

Gajen Kandiah is Executive Vice President and President of Cognizant Digital Business. Gajen defines the company’s vision and strategy for digital strategy and innovation, analytics and AI, consumer experiences, software engineering and applied IoT for enterprise clients. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Cognizant’s Business Process Services (BPS) and Digital Works practices.

A serial entrepreneur, since joining Cognizant in 2003 Gajen has founded and/or scaled multiple businesses including Business Process Services, system integration, application testing, and various industry businesses including Manufacturing, Media, Communications, Transportation, Technology and others. He was also instrumental in laying the foundation for Cognizant’s Global Technology Office.

Prior to joining Cognizant, Gajen co-founded a venture-backed management consulting firm called NerveWire Inc. and served as the Chief Operating Officer. He was also the Global Vice President, Interactive Solutions, for Cambridge Technology Partners.

He is a regular speaker at such venues as the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, Gartner Summits, Forrester Research conferences and Harvard Business School.

Gajen attended Royal College in Sri Lanka, studied computer science and engineering at Northeastern University and Leadership at Harvard Business School.

Venkat Krishnaswamy

Vice Chairman, Healthcare and Life Sciences

Venkat Krishnaswamy (Krish) is Cognizant’s Vice Chairman of Healthcare and Life Sciences. Appointed in 2017, Krish focuses on strategic client relationships, product strategy and M&A. Prior to this, as President of Healthcare & Life Sciences industry practice, Krish was focused on delivering innovative solutions and services to the broader healthcare industry that address emerging challenges and business trends across the payer, provider and life sciences industries. Under his leadership, our Healthcare and Life Sciences practice recorded significant growth, contributing to nearly 30 percent of the company’s revenues and in the process achieving several “firsts” in the industry including the development and successful commercialization of the BPaaS model and the acquisition and integration of Trizetto.

A seasoned veteran with over 30 years of leadership, consulting and operational management experience, Krish has worked in the banking, financial services, insurance and healthcare industries. His broad experience includes the creation and management of successful IT services organizations. Krish has held a number of key roles at Cognizant, including building and managing large client relationships and industry practices.

For many years prior to his current appointment Krish held various senior roles at Cognizant, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of Healthcare and Life Sciences and Vice President of Projects. Upon joining Cognizant in 1997 Krish served as a Senior Manager in our Banking & Financial Services (BFS) practice. Prior to that he spent over 10 years in retail and commercial banking at Colonial State Bank (now Commonwealth Bank of Australia).

Krish holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Madras and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

James Lennox (Jim)

Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer

James Lennox is Cognizant’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer. In this role, Jim works closely with our Executive Leadership Team and Cognizant’s Board of Directors, acting as a trusted advisor on all talent matters. His responsibilities include the oversight of all people-related programs that impact Cognizant’s global professionals, including traditional talent management, learning and leadership development, talent acquisition, mergers and acquisitions integration and mobility.

Immediately prior to assuming his current position Jim served as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer and Vice President, North America Human Resources. During his career at Cognizant Jim has led the Workforce Management Team, served as Operations Director for our Banking and Insurance practices and acted as Chief of Staff to the company’s CEO. He has over 20 years of experience across professional services, human resources (HR), consulting and operations.

Prior to joining Cognizant in 2004 Jim held operational roles in various capacities for the North American region of Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young. This included operations, HR, resource management and recruiting. He started his career at Ernst & Young Consulting, advising clients on process improvement methodologies and business process reengineering initiatives.

Sean Middleton

Senior Vice President and President, Cognizant Accelerator

Sean Middleton is Senior Vice President and President of Cognizant Accelerator, a division he founded in 2012. Accelerator is an innovation engine for Cognizant that enables us to build new products and service offerings that solve business challenges that our clients face. Collaborating closely with our business unit leaders, Accelerator sources the best ideas from across Cognizant and transform them into new technologies, delivery models well-rounded businesses that drive fast success.

Sean runs LaunchPad, a formal six-month accelerator program and is responsible for Studio, Cognizant’s hub for IP creation and software product development. He also runs Cognizant Ventures, the corporate venture capital group responsible for making strategic investments in external startups.

Previously Sean served as the Global Head of the Cognizant Digital Technologies business and, before that, as Chief of Staff to CEO Francisco D’Souza. Before joining Cognizant, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant.

Sean holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Cornell University and an MBA degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Issam Allen Shaheen (Allen)

Executive Vice President, Corporate Development

Issam Allen Shaheen is Cognizant’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Allen manages our mergers and acquisition strategy and execution. Over the years he has been responsible for several strategic initiatives within Cognizant, including the introduction of lean delivery methodologies that have helped drive the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s delivery methods.

Before assuming his current role, Allen was responsible for various Cognizant practices, including enterprise application services. He was also the General Manager for our German business unit and Markets Delivery Leader for Cognizant in Europe. Previously, Allen ran Cognizant’s IT infrastructure services practice, managed our systems integration and testing practices, and led Cognizant’s Global Technology Office.

Prior to joining Cognizant in 2006 Allen was a founder, officer and Executive Vice President of International Operations at Cambridge Technology Partners, an information technology professional services firm. He was the Chief Executive Officer of ArsDigita Corp. until the company was sold to RedHat Corp. in 2002.

Allen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Applied Sciences from Harvard College.

Dharmendra Kumar Sinha (DK)

Executive Vice President and President, Global Client Services

Dharmendra Kumar Sinha is Cognizant’s Executive Vice President and President, Global Client Services. Appointed in 2013, DK leads our global sales, field marketing and intermediary relations teams. He is also responsible for our strategic partnerships and alliances organization.

From 2007 to 2013, DK served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Sales and Field Marketing. Before that he served as Vice President of Cognizant, responsible for our manufacturing, logistics, retail, hospitality and technology verticals, which are among our fastest growing markets. DK also assumed Head of Sales and Field Marketing responsibilities for the company and, during this same period, managed our insurance practice.

Prior to joining Cognizant in 1997, DK worked with Tata Consultancy Services and CMC Ltd, an end-to-end IT solutions provider. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Patna Science College in Patna, India, and an MBA degree from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

Robert Telesmanic (Rob)

Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Robert Telesmanic is Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Cognizant. Appointed in early 2017, he is responsible for the company’s external financial reporting and overseeing our global controllership function. Rob is an accomplished financial executive with extensive experience and in-depth knowledge in accounting, regulatory reporting, internal control compliance, mergers and acquisition transactions, and leading financial system implementations.

Prior to his current position at Cognizant Rob served as our Senior Vice President, Controller, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller. Before joining Cognizant, he spent over 14 years with Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Robert holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science from New York University and an MBA degree from Columbia University.

Santosh Thomas

Executive Vice President and President, Global Growth Markets

Santosh Thomas is Cognizant’s Executive Vice President and President, Global Growth Markets. Appointed in 2016, he leads our United Kingdom and Ireland, Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific geographies. Santosh runs the company’s market strategies and day-to-day operations, which includes managing client relationships, sales, profit and loss, and nearshore delivery, among other responsibilities. Prior to this he served as President, Global Growth Markets.

Before joining Cognizant in 1999 Santosh worked with Informix and HCL Hewlett Packard Ltd.

Santosh holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering degree from the R.V. College of Engineering in Bangalore, India, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from Xavier (XLRI) School of Management in India.

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